Exercise recording system

ABSTRACT

An exercise recording system suitable for recording the exercise information of a user is provided. The exercise recording system includes an electronic tag, a reading module and a back-end data server. Identification information corresponding to the user is recorded inside the electronic tag, and the user exercises along an exercise path. The reading module is disposed on the exercise path so as to read the identification information recorded inside the electronic tag. The back-end data server receives the identification information transmitted from the reading module to retrieve essential information for calculating exercise information of the user.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a recording system and, moreparticularly, to an exercise recording system capable of recordingexercise information of a user.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In busy modern life, it has been emphasized to stay healthy by exercise.People jog or walk in a nearby park at leisure and sometimes do exercisein a sports center to stay energetic and healthy. Generally, tenthousand steps a day is believed to be the easiest way to stay fit andhealthy.

A user only has to wear a step counter on the waist to accumulativelycalculate the step count when the user is walking. The user learnswhether a pre-set target is reached from the accumulated step count,which is to be converted into consumed calories, after a day is done.Furthermore, the accumulated step count can be recorded on a notebook oruploaded onto the Internet for statistics of exercise during a period oftime.

However, it is biased to determine consumed calories only from theaccumulated step count because of the great diversity of sports. On theother hand, the user sometimes forgets to bring the step counter so thathe cannot be informed of the step count of the day. Moreover, it isinconvenient to record exercise information every day. What is worse,the sensitivity of a step counter needs to be calibrated regularly;otherwise, the step counter counts zero or two steps when only one stepis taken, which leads to incorrect step counts and exercise intensity.

Moreover, if the user touches the reset button by mistake, he cannotlearn the correct step count for the day. Moreover, it is very likelythat the user forgets to record and upload the accumulated step countonto the Internet.

Therefore, there is need in providing an exercise recording systemcapable of recording exercise information of a user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an exerciserecording system, capable of recording the exercise status of a user andconverting the exercise status into exercise information such as theconsumed calories and the exercise intensity of the user.

In order to achieve the foregoing or other objects, the presentinvention provides an exercise recording system for recording exerciseinformation of a user, the exercise recording system comprising: anelectronic tag, a reading module and a back-end data server.Identification information corresponding to the user is recorded insidethe electronic tag disposed on the user doing exercise along an exercisepath. The reading module is disposed on the exercise path so as to readthe identification information recorded inside the electronic tag. Theback-end data server receives the identification information transmittedfrom the reading module to retrieve essential information forcalculating exercise information of the user.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the essential informationcomprises the weight, age, gender of the user and the time the userpasses by the reading module.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the exercise path is aclosed path. The reading module comprises a reader. The essentialinformation comprises the distance of the exercise path. The back-enddata server stores a conversion table for converting the speed of theuser into a metabolic equivalent (MET). The speed of the user is thedistance divided by a time interval between two times when the userpasses by the reader.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the reading module comprisesa plurality of readers disposed along the exercise path. The essentialinformation comprises the distance between two of the readers along theexercise path. The back-end data server stores a conversion table forconverting the speed into a metabolic equivalent (MET). The speed of theuser is the distance divided by a time interval during which the userpasses by two of the readers.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the electronic tagcommunicates with the reading module wirelessly.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the back-end data server islinked to the Internet so that the user enquires about the exerciseinformation from the back-end data server through the Internet.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the back-end data servertransmits the exercise information to the user so that the user learnsthe exercise information.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the exercise path is one ofa walking trail, a jogging trail, a bicycle trail, a swimming lane and ahiking trail. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention,when the user is biking, the electronic tag can be disposed on abicycle. In the present embodiment, if one or more readers are addedalong the peripheral path, the readers can be used for securitymonitoring and as reminders so as to make sure the participants arealong the correct programmed exercise path. Moreover, exerciseinformation of respective participants can be automatically recorded. Inthis case, missing or error recording of the exercise information can beavoided.

Therefore, in the exercise recording system of the present invention,the reader reads the identification information inside the electronictag and transmits the identification information to the back-end dataserver when the user gets close to the reader in the reading module. Theback-end data server calculates the metabolic equivalent (MET) accordingto the speed of the user and then calculates the consumed caloriesaccording to the metabolic equivalent, the weight and exercise time ofthe user so that the user is well informed of his exercise intensity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects, spirits and advantages of several embodiments of thepresent invention will be readily understood by the accompanyingdrawings and detailed descriptions, wherein:

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B show a schematic diagram and a functional blockdiagram of an exercise recording system according to one embodiment ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an exercise recording system accordingto another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention can be exemplified by the preferred embodiments asdescribed hereinafter.

Please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, which show a schematic diagram anda functional block diagram of an exercise recording system according toone embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, theexercise recording system 100 of the present invention is suitable forrecording exercise information of a user 50. The exercise recordingsystem 100 comprises an electronic tag 110, a reading module 130 and aback-end data server 140. The electronic tag 110 records theidentification information 52 corresponding to the user 50 doingexercise along an exercise path 120.

It is noted that the present embodiment is described for a single user50. However, the disclosure of the present invention can also be usedfor multiple users. Those with ordinary skills in the art can easilymake modifications to apply the disclosure of the present invention inthe case where there are multiple users.

Moreover, the exercise recording system 100 is disposed in thetrack-and-field ground for example, wherein the exercise path 120 is thetrack. For detailed description, the exercise path 120 is represented bya dotted oval. It does not imply that the user 50 can only run, jog orwalk along the dotted oval but, instead, that the user 50 can run, jogor walk along any of the tracks, which those with ordinary skills in theart can easily comprehend.

Accordingly, the reading module 130 in the present embodiment onlycomprises a reader 132 because the exercise path 120 is a closed path.The reader 132 (reading module 130) is disposed along the exercise path120. Certainly, in the present invention, the number of the readers 132is not limited. In other words, a plurality of readers can be disposedalong the exercise path 120 in the present invention.

Moreover, the reader 132 (reading module 130) reads the identificationinformation 52 inside the electronic tag 110 and then integrate thenumber of the reader 132 and the user 50 as identification information52′, which is transmitted to the back-end data server 140. In presentembodiment, the electronic tag 110 and the reader 132 (reading module130) are paired using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) basedtechnology to communicate wirelessly.

The electronic tag 110 can comprise a built-in heartbeat detectionmodule to directly detect the heartbeat value of the user 50 andintegrate the heartbeat value in the identification information 52 to betransmitted to the reader 132 (reading module 130). Certainly, the user50 can also wear a cardiac detector to regularly transmit the detectedheartbeat value to the electronic tag 110 using a wireless fashion. Theheartbeat value is returned when the user 50 passes by the reader 132.

It is noted that the active distance between the electronic tag 110 andthe reader 132 depends on the frequency. The active distance is withinthe range from tens of centimeters to tens of meters, which isdetermined by selecting a proper frequency by those with ordinary skillsin the art according to actual needs.

After the reader 132 (reading module 130) reads the identificationinformation 52 recorded inside the electronic tag 110, theidentification information 52′ is transmitted to the back-end dataserver 140 through wired or wireless communication. Thereby the back-enddata server 140 obtains corresponding essential information 54 accordingto the identification information 52′. Part of the essential information54 is pre-stored inside the database of the back-end data server 140.Then the back-end data server 140 calculates the exercise information ofthe user based on the identification information 52′ and the essentialinformation 54.

In present embodiment, the exercise information 56 of the user 50comprises consumed calories. We will describe how to determine consumedcalories hereinafter. Moreover, the exercise information can be theexercise intensity of the user. However, the present invention is onlyexemplified by but not limited to the following description. Those withordinary skills in the art can make modifications within the scope ofthe present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1B, the back-end data server 140 comprises a processor142, a receiving unit 144 and a database 146. The processor 142 is linedto the receiving unit 144 and the database 146. For example, thereceiving unit 144 comprises a network interface card (NIC) and awireless access point (AP) for receiving the identification information52′. Certainly, the receiving unit 144 can also be linked to the reader132 (reading module 130)to receive identification information 52′through a wire.

Accordingly, after the receiving unit 144 receives the identificationinformation 52′, the identification information 52′ is transmitted tothe processor 142. After the processor 142 identifies the identificationinformation 52′, information concerning the weight of the user 50 can beobtained from the database 146. Moreover, since the processor 142 iscapable of identifying the identification information 52 received by aspecific reader 132 (reading module 130), the processor 142 canretrieves information concerning the distance of the exercise path 120from the database 146. In the present embodiment, the distance of theexercise path 120 is the perimeter of a single track in thetrack-and-field ground. To sum up, the essential information 54comprises the weight of the user 50, the time for the user 50 to pass bythe reader 132 (reading module 130) and the distance of the exercisepath 120.

When the user 50 is done with one track in the track-and-field groundand has passed the reader 132 (reading module 130) twice, the back-enddata server 140 divides the distance of the exercise path 120 by thetime interval between two times when the user 50 passes by the reader132 (reading module 130) so as to calculate the speed of the user 50. Onthe other hand, a conversion table 146 a is built in the database 146 ofthe back-end data server 140 to record the relation between the speedand the metabolic equivalent (MET). Therefore, the processor 142converts the speed of the user 50 to the metabolic equivalent. Then, theconsumed calories of the user 50 can be obtained by multiplying theweight of the user 50 by the exercise time and the metabolic equivalentof the user 50.

TABLE 1 metabolic equivalent Exercise items and speed (kcal/Kg/hr)walking (below 5 km/hr) 3 walking (5.5 km/hr) 5.6 jogging (8 km/hr) 10jogging (12 km/hr) 15 jogging (16 km/hr) 20 jogging (20 km/hr) 25 biking(8.8 km/hr) 3 biking (21 km/hr) 9.7 hiking upward (5°) 8 hiking upward(10°) 11 hiking upward (15°) 15 hiking downward 3.7 swimming (freestyle) 12 Swimming (butterfly style) 14 Swimming (backstroke style) 10

Table 1 is an extraction from a conversion table according to oneembodiment of the present invention. In Table 1, different speedscorrespond to different metabolic equivalents when it comes to walkingor jogging. When the user 50 is walking or jogging at different speeds,the back-end data server 140 calculates the actual consumed calories ofthe user 50 according to different metabolic equivalents. For example,the user 50 is walking or jogging at a speed of 12 km/hr for the initiallaps and at a lowered speed of 5.5 km/hr for the final laps. The amountof consumed calories is calculated based on 15 kcal/kg/hr for theinitial laps and 5.6 kcal/kg/hr for the final laps.

In other words, the amount of consumed calories depends on the speed. Inthe present invention, the amount of consumed calories of the user 50doing exercise at different speeds can be accumulatively calculated.Unlike the conventional step counter that accumulatively calculates thestep count to be converted into exercise intensity or consumed calories,the exercise recording system 100 of the present invention is capable ofrecording the exercise information of the user 50 according to theactual exercise status of the user 50.

Moreover, Table 1 can be further developed into a look-up table thatrecords metabolic equivalent according to gender, age, etc to achievemore precise calculation for consumed calories. The look-up table formetabolic equivalent is based on experiments made by medical experts,and therefore, those with ordinary skills in the art can update thelook-up table according to newly published medical magazines orjournals.

Moreover, by using the exercise recording system 100 of the presentinvention, the user 50 only has to wear an electronic tag 110 when doingexercise and the exercise recording system 100 automatically records theexercise status of the user 50 to further calculate and record theexercise information of the user 50. Furthermore, unlike theconventional step counter that is required to be disposed on the waist,the disposed position of the electronic tag 110 of the present inventionis not limited. For example, the user 50 can wear the electronic tag 110on the wrist or the arm so that the electronic tag 110 does not hinderexercise. In the future, the electronic tag 110 may possibly beimplanted into the epidermis of the user 50. Therefore, the user 50 isprevented from forgetting bring the electronic tag 110. In this case,the electronic tag 110 will be able to detect and record the heartbeatvalue regularly.

It is noted that Table 1 is only an extraction from the conversion table146 a. In practical cases, the difference in speed in the conversiontable 146 a is smaller so that the actual speed of the user 50corresponds to a nearest speed in the conversion table to calculate thecorresponding metabolic equivalent. Certainly, the actual speed of theuser 50 can be used to calculate the corresponding metabolic equivalentby interpolation, which is well known to those with ordinary skills inthe art and description thereof is not repeated.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the exercise informationis the exercise intensity of the user 50. Similarly, after the processor142 identifies the identification information 52′, the processor 142picks up information concerning age of the user 50 from the database 146so as to convert the information into an extreme heartbeat value of theuser 50. For example, the extreme heartbeat value is 220 subtract by theage of the user 50. In other words, if the age of the user 50 is 30, theextreme heartbeat value of the user 50 is 190.

Accordingly, the exercise intensity of the user 50 is the heartbeatvalue of the user 50 divided by the extreme heartbeat value. Forexample, if the heartbeat value of the user 50 doing exercise is 110,the exercise intensity is equal to 57% (110/190). According toinvestigations made by American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), theexercise intensity needs to be within the range from 60˜90% for 20 to 60minutes if one wants to keep excellent cardiopulmonary exercise.Therefore, the user learns about his cardiopulmonary exercise based onthe exercise intensity and the duration.

In the present embodiment, the back-end data server 140 furthercomprises a network linking unit (not shown) for interconnection withthe Internet. When the user 50 has finished doing exercise, the user 50inquires the exercise information (comprising consumed calories,exercise intensity, etc) of the user 50 from the back-end data server140 through the Internet. On the other hand, the back-end data server140 is also capable of transmitting the exercise information (comprisingconsumed calories, exercise intensity, etc) to the user 50 wirelesslyusing a mobile message or an e-mail.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an exercise recording system accordingto another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, theexercise recording system 200 of the present embodiment is similar tothe exercise recording system 100 (as shown in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B)except that the reading module 230 of the exercise recording system 200comprises a plurality of readers 232 a to 232 f disposed at theintersections (232 a to 232 d) or along the exercise path 220 (232 e to232 f).

In the present embodiment, the exercise recording system 200 is disposedin the park, for example. The exercise path 220 is a walking trail inthe park. When the user 50 passes by the readers 232 a to 232 f, thereaders 232 a to 232 f read the identification information (not shown)inside the electronic tag 110 and then transmit the identificationinformation to back-end data server 140.

For example, the user 50 does exercise along the exercise path 220 topass by the readers 232 a to 232 f. After the readers 232 a and 232 ftransmit identification information to the back-end data server 140, theback-end data server 140 picks up the distance of the exercise path 220between the readers 232 a ad 232 f and obtains the speed of the user 50by dividing the distance by a time interval during which the user passesby two of the readers 232 a and 232 f. The speed can be used todetermine the metabolic equivalent of the user 50 according to theconversion table in Table 1. The amount of consumed calories of the user50 is calculated based on the weight and the exercise time. Certainly,the exercise intensity is calculated similarly to the foregoingembodiment, and thus description thereof is not repeated.

It is noted that the exercise recording system of the present inventionis exemplified by but not limited to the track-and-field ground and thepark. For example, the exercise recording system can also be disposed ina swimming pool, on the mountain or on the highway. The exercise path isone of a walking trail, a jogging trail, a bicycle trail, a swimminglane and a hiking trail.

It is explained that, for a hiking trail, the metabolic equivalentdepends on the gradient of the trail. Therefore, the back-end dataserver calculates the corresponding metabolic equivalent according tothe disposed locations of the readers. Moreover, for a swimming lane,since the back-end data server does not have the slightest idea of thestyles, the amount of consumed calories for respective swimming stylesis calculated independently so that the user learns about the amount ofconsumed calories according to practical needs.

Moreover, for a biking trail, the user 50 does exercise on equipmentsuch as a bicycle. In this case, the electronic tag 110 can be disposedeither on the user 50 or on the sports equipment. Those with ordinaryskills in the art can easily learn that the electronic tag 110 is onlydisposed on the user's end (i.e., on the user or any equipment used bythe user).

Accordingly, in the exercise recording system of the present invention,the exercise recording system automatically calculate the metabolicequivalent according to the speed of the user when the user passes bythe reader and calculate the exercise information comprising the amountof consumed calories based on the metabolic equivalent, the weight andexercise time of the user so that the user learns about the exerciseintensity.

The exercise recording system of the present invention can be used indifferent sports equipments to obtain the exercise informationcomprising the amount of consumed calories and exercise intensityaccording to the exercise the user does (such as walking, jogging,hiking, biking and swimming). Furthermore, the user inquires theexercise intensity from the back-end data server through the Internetafter he has finished doing exercise. In this case, the user does nothave to record the exercise information and hence the user is morewilling to do exercise.

Although this invention has been disclosed and illustrated withreference to particular embodiments, the principles involved aresusceptible for use in numerous other embodiments that will be apparentto persons skilled in the art. This invention is, therefore, to belimited only as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.

1. An exercise recording system for recording exercise information of auser, the exercise recording system comprising: an electronic tag,capable of recording identification information corresponding to theuser doing exercise along an exercise path; a reading module, disposedon the exercise path so as to read the identification informationrecorded inside the electronic tag; and a back-end data server, capableof receiving the identification information transmitted from the readingmodule to retrieve essential information for calculating exerciseinformation of the user.
 2. The exercise recording system as recited inclaim 1, wherein the essential information comprises the weight of theuser and the time for the user to pass by the reading module.
 3. Theexercise recording system as recited in claim 2, wherein the exercisepath is a closed path, the reading module comprises a reader, theessential information comprises the distance of the exercise path andthe back-end data server stores a conversion table for converting thespeed of the user into a metabolic equivalent (MET); wherein, the speedof the user is the distance divided by a time interval between two timeswhen the user passes by the reader.
 4. The exercise recording system asrecited in claim 3, wherein the exercise information comprises theconsumed calories defined by the weight multiplied by the exercise timeand the metabolic equivalent.
 5. The exercise recording system asrecited in claim 2, wherein the reading module comprises a plurality ofreaders disposed along the exercise path, the essential informationcomprises the distance between two of the readers along the exercisepath, and the back-end data server stores a conversion table forconverting the speed into a metabolic equivalent (MET); wherein, thespeed of the user is the distance divided by a time interval duringwhich the user passes by two of the readers.
 6. The exercise recordingsystem as recited in claim 5, wherein the exercise information comprisesthe consumed calories defined by the weight multiplied by the exercisetime and the metabolic equivalent.
 7. The exercise recording system asrecited in claim 1, wherein the electronic tag is capable of detecting aheartbeat value, the essential information comprises an extremeheartbeat value and the exercise information comprises an exerciseintensity; wherein, the exercise intensity is equal to the extremeheartbeat value.
 8. The exercise recording system as recited in claim 1,wherein the electronic tag is disposed on the user.
 9. The exerciserecording system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a sportsequipment, whereon the electronic tag is disposed and whereby the userdoes exercise along the exercise path.
 10. The exercise recording systemas recited in claim 1, wherein the electronic tag communicates with thereading module wirelessly.
 11. The exercise recording system as recitedin claim 1, wherein the back-end data server is linked to the Internetso that the user enquires about the exercise information from theback-end data server through the Internet.
 12. The exercise recordingsystem as recited in claim 11, wherein the back-end data servertransmits the exercise information to the user so that the user learnsthe exercise information.
 13. The exercise recording system as recitedin claim 11, wherein the exercise path is one of a walking trail, ajogging trail, a bicycle trail, a swimming lane and a hiking trail.